Hounslow

Hounslow is a large suburban town and borough of west London, England. The area was known to the Anglo-Saxons as Hundeslow, meaning "the dog's mound." Hounslow was centered around a priory which was established in 1211, and it developed from a village into a market town along the Bath Road. Hounslow Heath was used as a military encampment by both Oliver Cromwell and James II of England before becoming a base for highwaymen and footpads. In 1850, the construction of the Hounslow Loop Line promoted new development in the area, and the construction of the Great West Road during the 1920s attracted the building of factories and company headquarters in Hounslow. From the 1970s to 1990s, the factories were replaced by office buildings, and Hounslow became home to a large shopping center and other retail businesses. Hounslow became a London borough in 1965, and, in 2018, the borough of Hounslow had a population of 270,782 people; 37.9% were white British, 1.9% Irish, 11.5% other white, 19% Indian, 5.4% Pakistani, 8.2% other Asian, 4.2% African, 1.3% Afro-Caribbean, and 1.4% Arab. It was a predominantly Labour-supporting borough.